Heating and ventilating apparatus and system



(No Model.)

. A. SKILTON.

HEATING AND VE NTI LATING APPARATUS AND SYSTEM.

Patented Feb. 3,1891.

INVENTEIR UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES A. sKILToN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

HEATING AND VENTILATING APPARATUS AND SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 445,762, dated February 3, 1891.

Application filed November 2, 1889. Serial No. 329,039| (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Le it known that I, JAMES A. SKILTON, of the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented a newand useful Improvement in Heating and Ventilating Apparatus and Systems, of which the following is a specification, and for which I have obtained no foreign Letters Patent whatever.

My invention relates to steam and hot-water radiators, and particularly to such radiators provided with hollow or chambered and imperforate bases adapted to be located in the rooms or suites of rooms to be heated or heated and ventilated, and also to devices for creating and controlling currents of air in the same.

The objects of my invention are to provide a simple means for controlling, limiting, and directing the radiating action of the radiator;

for increasing the movement of the steam or hot-water circulation in the radiator; for in creasing the efficiency of the -radiator by bringing a larger amount of airin contact with it in a given time, and thereby increasing the space it will heat; for increasing the proportion of heating done by convection, and diminishing that done by radiation in the room; for increasing the movement of air within the room and to and from the radiator; for unmasking masked portions of the radiator as now used; for masking certain unmasked portions of it; for directing such circulation so as to intercept, warm, and distribute the currents of fresh air entering the room by, through, or around a window or other aperture. I attain these objects by the l'llOCllZtlllSl'll illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the radiator, casing, window-seat, and window. Fig. 2 is a back view of the radiator and radiator-casin Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View of a radiator with upright tubes of a different form from those shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4: is a cross-sectional view of the same, and Fig. 5 is an enlarged detailed sectional view of a part of the casing.

Similar letters relate to similar parts throughout the several views.

The radiator used may be either of the steam or hot-water variety.

The in vent-ion herein described and claimed uses radiators having the imperforate or closed hollow or chambered base, which closes the bottom of the heating-chamber formed by an outside jacket or casing, as hereinafter described, and provides means to promote circulation.

It is the radiator, the upright double tubes T T of which may be of any usual form.

B is the hollow base, provided with one or more steam or hot-water chambers.

G is the casing, composed of sheet metal surrounding the radiator-pipes or upright tubes, resting upon or supported by the base B, so as to form a heating-chamber. The effects sought and secured by making the hollow base the bottom of the heating-chamber are several and important. The action of the tubes throughout their entire lengths is prac tically limited thereby to heating by contact and convection, and that of the base is differentiated or divided, so that the exposed part heats the bottom of the room by radiation chiefly and where it is not injurious, while that portion of it which is inclosed within the casing heats by contact and convection, and doing so at a place where the supply of heat is large and immediately accessible and effective. The passing air is thereby moved toward the top of the chamber energetically, promptly, and in contact with the tubes throughout, which act cumulatively, increasin g the temperature of the air and the energy of its movement. The result is that any given radiator so jacketed will heat a much larger space than when it is used naked or unjacketed, or when so jacketed that the cold air has access to all parts of it alike. Further, the tubes having long slender spaces of small diameters are more easily affected by air having free access thereto. and the casing therefore acts as a protection to them, especially in the upper parts, while the cold air admitted at the bottom is first and partly heated from the hollow base, and in so far as heated from the tubes attacks them most severely at the bottoms adjacent to the heat-supply in the base, from which a new supply can be quickly furnished without traversing any considerable length of tubing. In other words, this arrangement makes the greatestdemand at the point of largest supply and also preserves the efficiency of the rest of the apparatus as well, thereby increasing the power of the whole of it. I provide an opening 0, which may have a lattieed or open-work metal cover, and located, preferably, at the back of the casing toward the window or wall, so as to be out of sight under ordinary circumstances to the occupant of the room, and so as to catch the cold air near the floor and the air as it falls in front of the window toward the floor on entering.

T T are radiator-pipes divided by a vertical diaphragm or partition into two connected chambers or passages for the purpose of promoting the circulation of the steam or water.

"1" shows another kind of pipes having two channels or passages with or without an opening between, both of these channels connecting with the associated chamber in the base The pipes are so placed that one passage therein is more exposed to the incoming air than the other.

I prefer to make the casing C of stiff galvanized sheet-iron, although it may be made of black iron, and when made of a single thickness may be decorated or left plain and will furnish a practical heater. Upon the outside of this casin g I secure, however, when desired, a sheet of thin metal C preferably tin, which has been embossed or stamped or otherwise decorated in ornamental figures, as shown, or otherwise. The stiff inner sheet acts as a back or stiffener to the thin orna- :mental sheet. This thin sheet may be secured to the thicker sheet by rivets or in any ordii'lary way, and may be from time to time changed, as desired, or substituted by other sheets of metal differently ornamented, when defaced or injured, without disturbing the practical and efficient casing of the radiator and at comparatively little cost. metal 0 may be applied to C where it is used; otherwise to 0.

The operation of the inclosed radiator is as follows: Where the air of the room is to be heated by establishing circuits of air therein on turning the steam into the radiator-base, as the base and upright parts become heated the air will be drawn into and through the opening 0 and into direct contact with the base, and in the first instance with the adjacent sid-es of the upright pipes or tubes, and I prefer to so place the uprightpip es that one of the two passages therein will receive the first contact of the incoming air, leaving the other passage more or less masked and shielded therefrom, When the airof the room is cool, or to the extent that it is cooler than the pipe, the immediate effect which results is theheating of the incoming air by the steam or hot water in the base and in the adjacent side of the upright pipe nearest the opening, therebycausing a tendency to condensation, to an immediate draft on the boiler, and to the production of a downward current in the passage of one side of the upright pipes, and an upward current in that of the other, caused by the difference in the temperature of the heating medium in the two sides of the double pipes. On the opposite side of these upright pipes there will be a less tendency to part with heat, especially'where the pipes are adjacent to other pipes containing steam or hot Water, being thereby masked or shielded from the contact of the incoming air. The effect of contact of cooler air on one side of the pipe to a greater extent than on the other will be an increase of the circulation, because of the downpu-l-l or downpush on one side of the double pipe and the effect of continuous action of this kind upon the base and upon the upright part of the radiator will be to draw upon the source of heat more rapidly, cause the delivery of a greater amount of heat to the incoming air, and thereby increase the efficiency of any given surface-0t the radiator pipes and base. The larger steam or hot-water space of the base will act as a reservoir of power to supply the pipes, continue the heating of the incoming air, and thereby send it rapidly upward and on its way through the heating-chamber, unmasking the upright pipes above as it goes, and rapidly carrying away the heat. Theradiatoispipes andsteampassages being shielded by an outside casing and prevented from radiating into the room thereby, the radiation will take effect immediately upon all the air passing through the crease the efficiency of the apparatus or enable it to heat an increased area or room :capacity at the same time that the objectionable radiated heat is diminished in amount or proportion. by simply adding to the radiator a case or jacket resting or "supported on the base and provided with an opening near the bottom, the ornamental radiator-top being transferred to the top of the casing and no additional-apparatus or expense being required. lhe'casing also compels the air to make direct con tact with the heating-surfaces and take heat therefrom by conduct-ion.

When located in front of a window, the apparatus described will cause an increased flow of air into the room from withoutthrough or around the window. hen the window is raised at the bottom or lowered at the top,

a very considerable amount of incoming cool air will be taken up and neutralized or heated by the air passing through the heating-chamber of the radiator and rising therefrom, and when the cold air drops on entering the room through or around the window it will have a natural tendency toward the opening 0 and to pass through the heating-chamber before it reaches the room or produces objectionable effects upon the people occupying it.

These results will be attained I W'here there are two or more rows of pipes they may be so placed as to break j oint-s and all expose the same side to the incoming air.

When it is desired to cut oif radiation to an extreme extent, I provide an additional outside casing 0, made a little larger than the casing C, so as to beslipped over it and leave an air-space between them and supported by it, preferably without reaching or resting upon the base B. This outside cas ing is shown cut away opposite the opening 0, so as to give ready entrance to the air, and maybe covered or finished at top with the ordinary ornamental radiator top or cap D, having open work on its top for the passage of the air. \Vhen the outside casing (1 is not used, this ordinary perforated radiator top or cap may be slipped over the top of and rest upon the casing O, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1. The narrow chamber between the casing O and C may be open at top, so as to permit the air therein to pass through and out at the radiator-top, as shown by the arrow E in Fig. 1, or it may be closed, as shown, at the back or opposite side of the radiator-top, as shown in Fig. 1. In either case radiation into the room will be checked at and by each stage of transfer to the two or three sheets of metal, and be thereby neutralized.

It may well be that under some conditions of heat and pressure the movement of the circulation may be by the shortest and most direct route from the base-chamber to the point in the tube where the heat is first parted with rather than by the longest. My invention concerns in this part only the diiference in action between the two passages of the tube and the establishment of a circuit whatever direct-ion it may take. a

The casing resting on the radiator-base becomes an integral part of the radiator; prevents direct radiation from the tubes and upper part of the radiator; forms a heatingchamber closed by a hot and heatimparting bottom, which radiates heat within the chamber and at the same time permits direct radiation from a part of the same base into the lower part of the room or compartment in which it stands and where it will be useful in warming the feet by downward and lateral radiation without the objectionable effects incident to radiation from the upper part of the radiator; gives directcontrol over the currents of air entering the chamber and within it, so as to aid in promoting its own circulation and also that of the steam or hot water, or, in other words, increases the efficiency of the entire apparatus, While diminishing the objectionable effects of the naked radiator to such an extent that a person may sit almost in contact with the casing while the apparatus is in full operation without being annoyed or made uncomfortable by excessive radiated heat or otherwise; permits the masking of tubes that are unmasked in the-naked radiator and in the radiator covered by a casing resting onthe floor permits the unmasking of tubes that are masked in the naked radiator, and otherwise improves the action of the entire apparatus. These results, together with others incident thereto, are secured in large part by the resting of the casing on the base, which is hollow as well as imperforate, and therefore contains one or more steam-chambers from which the tubes are supplied.

The object of surrounding a steam or hotwater radiator having a hollow imperforate base with double upright circulating pipes or tubes by an outside case or jacket open at top and forming a heating-chamber is that the air which is admitted through one or more openings in the case may be heated by being brought in contact primarily or principally with one side or leg, of the double pipes or tubes, so as to take a greater portion'of heat from such side or leg and thereby lower the temperature of the heating medium therein below that of the other side or leg, and thereby increase the'circulation of the heating medium in the pipes or tubes.

The object of combining a radiator with circulating return-tubes and a casing forming a heating-chamber around the same is to thereby improve the circulation of such tubes by accelerating the movement of the heating medium through the controlled action of the air passing through the heating-chamberto be heated and during the process of such heatin g, and these objects are accomplished in this instance by providing the casing itself with an air-inlet directly in the casing itself.

The ordinary radiator-top, such as is used in the open radiator for purposes of ornan'leutation or finish, maybe placed on the top of the casing and serve the purpose of furnishing the outlet or outlets for the air passing through the heating-chamber 011 which it rests, and in that position it performs the new function of guiding or directing such currents of air. Such radiator-top also stiffens and keeps the upper part of the casing in form and in position in conformity with the lower part of the same, for which the radiator-base performs similar useful fn notions. The top, base, and easing thus form an integral structure consisting of three combined and co-operating elements.

By the words imperforate bases, as used herein, I mean bases so constructed as not to allow air to pass through the same into any chamber formed by rest-ing a casfng upon the base. I consider it a fault in previous constructions, in which a casing has been used around a radiator as a heating-chamber, that the casing has been placed too far from the radiator-tubes or other radiatingsurfaces, and therefore made too large to produce the required amount of propelling power in or upon the air passing through the heating chamber and the required convection power for heating purposes. This fault I avoid by making the chamber of such a size that the area of a horizontal section of the casing will be smaller than that of the base, so as to bring the casing close to the tubes or pipes, and thereby obtain substantial gains in both respects. 'Ihisis one of the objects of 'resting the casing directly on the base in the manner shown and described.

I have filed three other applications, which are now pending and in which are shown as elements a casing or jacket, a radiator with a hollowbase, and other elements. These applications are as follows: Serial No. 265,838, filed March 1, 1888, Serial No. 273,821, filed May 14, 1888,and Serial No. 329,040, filed November 2, 1889. In the last-mentioned application all the combinations require or are limited toa radiator with a perforate base as one of the elements of the invention. In this application thelimitati'on is to a hollow or chambered base, or to a base and associated tubes connecting therewith.

All the invention not set forth nor allowed in the claims as finally presented and allowed in this nor in the three applications above mentioned are di'sclaimed so far as this application is concerned and in favor of application No. 265,838, and' all the invention set forth in the claims of said three applications as finally allowed are also disclaimed as to this application.

I do not desire to limit this invention to the useof pipes, tubes, or channels for .receiving steam or hot water from the base of any particularsiz'e' or of any particular proportions relative to the base so far as the chambers and passages are concerned.

The inlet and the outlet shown in this application through which the air passes differ from those shown in the other three applications above mentioned in being without any opening or closing devices.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination, with a radiator consisting of a base and tubes, of a casing or jacket surrounding the tubes, resting upon or supported by the base, and leaving a portion of the base exposed.

2. A radiator having a hollow or chambered base and pipes or tubes connected therewith and supplied therefrom, in combination with an outside casing or jacket resting on or closed by the base and forming a heatingchamber. 3. A steam or hot-water radiator having a hollow or chambered base for steam or hot water and pipes or tubes connected therewith and supplied therefrom, in combination with an outside case or jacket resting on the base and forming a heating-chamber.

at. A radiator having a hollow or'chambered base and pipes ortubes connected therewith and supplied with steam or hot water therefrom, in combination with an outside case or jacket resting on or supported by the base,

forming a heating-chaniber, and provided with an inlet at or near the bottom for the air of the room.

5. A radiator having a hollow or chambered base and pipes or tubes connected therewith and supplied with steam or hot water therefrom, in combination with an outside case or jacket resting on or supported by the base, forming a heating-chamber, and provided with an inlet at or near the bottom and an outlet at or near the top for the air of the room.

6. A steam or hot-water radiator having a hollow imperforate base and tubes, pipes or channels supplied with steam or hot water therefrom, surrounded by an outside casing or jacket open at top, resting upon or closed by the base at bottom, and forming a heatingcham'ber into which air is admitted through an opening in the casing or jacket to be heated, 1

7. The combination, with a radiator con sisting of a base and tubes, of a casing or jacket surrounding the tubes, resting upon or supported by the base, provided with an inlet-opening near the bottom and an outletopening at the top, and leaving aport ion of the base uncovered or exposed.

S. The following elements in combination: first, a hollow radiator-base and upright pipes ortubes; second, a sheet-metal casing resting ber, and, third, a radiator-top resting on or in the radiator-casing, as shown and described.

9. The following elements in combination: a steam or hot-water radiator provided with a hollow imperforate-baseand an independent top or'cover, in combination with an outside jacket or casing resting on or closed at bottom by the base andsurrounding the pipes; and tubes or channels connecting therewith, open at top and provided with an opening near the bottom for the admission of air to the heating-chamber formed thereby.

10. A steam or hot-water radiator having an im'perforate hollowbase and double pipes surrounded with a casing or jacket resting on and closed by the base at bottom, forming a heating-chamber open at top to permit escape of heated air, provided with an opening near the bottom of the case to receive the air to be heated, one side and one passage of the pipes being presented to the opening and the other side and passage bei-ng'masked thereby.

11. Aradiatorhavingahollowor chambered base and pipes or tubes connected therewith and supplied therefrom, in combination with an outside casing or jacket resting on or closed by the base, forming a heating-chamber, and consisting of two sheets of metal with normal air-space between them.

12. A radiator havinga hollow or chambered base and pipes or tubes connected therewith and supplied therefrom, in combinati'onwith an outside casing or jacket resting on or closed by the base, forming a heating-chamon the radiator-base,forming a heating-cham- IIO ber, and consisting of two sheets of metal, an outside casing open ut its lower edge and the outer one being stamped or embossed and enough larger than the lnuer casing to leave IO secured to or upon the inner sheet. air-chamber space between the two casings.

o i r 1 1 1 1o. Aiadmtoi Inning ahollou o1 chambeled JAMES A. SKIL] ON base and pipes or tubes connected therewith and supplied therefrom, in combination with \Vitnesses:

2'1, casing or jacket resting on the base and JOHN J. OOONNOR, forming a heating-chamber, and also With EDWARD S. BERRALL. 

